The great question which Albert Grimlund was debating was fraught
with unpleasant possibilities. He could not go home for the
Christmas vacation, for his father lived in Drontheim, which is
so far away from Christiania that it was scarcely worth while
making the journey for a mere two-weeks' holiday. Then, on the
other hand, he had an old great-aunt who lived but a few miles
from the city. She had, from conscientious motives, he feared,
sent him an invitation to pass Christmas with her. But Albert
had a poor opinion of Aunt Elsbeth. He thought her a very
tedious person. She had a dozen cats, talked of nothing but
sermons and lessons, and asked him occasionally, with pleasant
humor, whether he got many whippings at school. She failed to
comprehend that a boy could not amuse himself forever by looking
at the pictures in the old family Bible, holding yarn, and
listening to oft-repeated stories, which he knew by heart,
concerning the doings and sayings of his grandfather. Aunt
Elsbeth, after a previous experience with her nephew, had come to
regard boys as rather a reprehensible kind of animal, who
differed in many of their ways from girls, and altogether to the
boys' disadvantage.

Now, the prospect of being "caged" for two weeks with this
estimable lady was, as I said, not at all pleasant to Albert. He
was sixteen years old, loved out-door sports, and had no taste
for cats. His chief pride was his muscle, and no boy ever made
his acquaintance without being invited to feel the size and
hardness of his biceps. This was a standing joke in the Latin
school, and Albert was generally known among his companions as
"Biceps" Grimlund. He was not very tall for his age, but